Comment. Comments are incredibly, incredibly important.
Just to go off on a somewhat related tangent since I view programmers' work to be quite similar to the draftsmen of yesteryear...
Back when I was doing manual drafting before CAD became ubiquitous I used to use blue pencils to make comments on the original. The comments would describe a bit about my thinking during the design phase. The blue writing wouldn't appear on Blueline prints or photocopies (different shades were needed depending on the repro technology used) but could be read when looking at the original. I never noticed other draftsmen doing a similar thing.
Before CAD took over the technical drawing field, advanced methods of drawing production like cut-and-paste drafting and the use of erasable vellum were becoming quite efficient due to Xerox-type technologies permitting re-sizing and reuse of pre-existing designs and design details.
While current 3D CAD can do some amazing things like fly/walk-through models (very cool and impressive, but overrated) of proposed designs and up-to-the-second material reports (dubious value, IMO), it has also made design and "drawing" production more complicated due to the expensive, complex tools required and the unforgiving nature of hardware/software setup and configuration. Not to mention vendor lock-in, the lack of ability to objectively evaluate different programs' suitability for the tasks at hand, the difficulties in finding properly trained users, third party software interdependence and half-baked, beta-like features in software that always work in demos but not so much in real life usage [1]. Oh, and the constant tinkering from vendors who "improve" the software for the next release (often to justify paying the upgrade cost), causing users to re-learn how to use the tool rather than focus on improving their design skills.
[1] Which usually results in home-grown workarounds (obviously not supported by the software company) that get broken when the users are forced to upgrade to a later release.
Graphics-intensive apps are also poor ran remotely.
3D engineering applications (stuff like virtually walking through a process plant for design reviews) run very slowly to the point of being pretty much useless via remote access. First of all, the 3D model can be huge. Then, if the database has to be included, it's worse. Then, there's the issue of putting all that sensitive data online rather than on a local, in-house server.
Such a giant project has many important elements. Perhaps you didn't notice the domain that I run (coming up on 10 years next month!). Kinda explains my focus, no? Some say it's an obsession, though, but those people are weirdos.
I'd like to know the diameter of the vacuum-insulated piping that is transporting the liquid helium for cooling. Piping large volumes of that stuff is not trivial.
The sad fact is that the climate is changing, that we are causing it and if we want to do anything to avoid a major cataclysmic breakdown, we have to swiftly take radical action.
Explain to me again why China, Russia, India, etc. (as major polluters now and even worse in the future) are not subject to these emissions controls.
[Peasant] Oh, wait (raises hand): because...ummm...they are considered "developing economies"?
Correct! And WHY are they developing economies?
[Peasant] Uh, because...[mumble] they... weigh the same as a witch?
Correct!
[Peasant] But...if...they...pollute freely, and we have to PAY them, isn't that wrong if the goal is to reduce pollution?
Do you know what a flywheel is and how huge the earth is? Do you (with the "could", "might", "can" verbiage), really think that such a massive, inertial force (influenced so greatly by Sol) will be changed by our puny, human efforts?
If you have a choice between believing the world scientists or your own opinion in regards to climate change, I would suggest listening to the scientists. They know ALOT more about it than you do.
Do these "world scientists" depend upon government/NGO grants to pay their salary and are the ones that disagree (who should NOT be listened to, of course) all in the pocket of big oil?
No worries, I'm paranoid so I already assume everyone else is out to get me anyway.
In case you already invited friends over to my place tomorrow night, you'd better bring the beer, hookers and blackjack 'cause I'm all out of that stuff at the moment.
Similar weasel words are, "All politics suck, and both are the scum of the earth, but the best of the worst is Obama (I hate him, but...)". See the subtle inference there?
Ah-ha! Wealthy penthouse-dwellers! Um, your Dad's luxury vehicle will unexpectedly shut down unless...no wait. The elevator will...nah, that won't work. Whatever, just send me money or something bad will happen to you (or somebody else you know) sometime in the future. I bet you're scared now, eh?
It appears that I may be full of shit, my apologies. I asked Dan:
There've been trial projects using superconducting cables to shift large amounts of power for some years now (I mentioned them in passing in http://www.dansdata.com/gz026.htm ), but I don't think there are any large-scale applications yet. If the cable loses its cool the results are, of course, very bad.
But if you want to connect a brand new zillion-megawatt nuke plant to a city not that far away over geologically stable ground, I think buried superconductors could easily work out cheaper than umpteen giant pylons holding up a vast tonnage of aluminium cables.
Slashdot Mirror
Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock.
kinda the inverse of the spit/snot drop we've all done as kids
How to make fake snot
Who's getting the peace prize this year?
Comment. Comments are incredibly, incredibly important.
Just to go off on a somewhat related tangent since I view programmers' work to be quite similar to the draftsmen of yesteryear...
Back when I was doing manual drafting before CAD became ubiquitous I used to use blue pencils to make comments on the original. The comments would describe a bit about my thinking during the design phase. The blue writing wouldn't appear on Blueline prints or photocopies (different shades were needed depending on the repro technology used) but could be read when looking at the original. I never noticed other draftsmen doing a similar thing.
Before CAD took over the technical drawing field, advanced methods of drawing production like cut-and-paste drafting and the use of erasable vellum were becoming quite efficient due to Xerox-type technologies permitting re-sizing and reuse of pre-existing designs and design details.
While current 3D CAD can do some amazing things like fly/walk-through models (very cool and impressive, but overrated) of proposed designs and up-to-the-second material reports (dubious value, IMO), it has also made design and "drawing" production more complicated due to the expensive, complex tools required and the unforgiving nature of hardware/software setup and configuration. Not to mention vendor lock-in, the lack of ability to objectively evaluate different programs' suitability for the tasks at hand, the difficulties in finding properly trained users, third party software interdependence and half-baked, beta-like features in software that always work in demos but not so much in real life usage [1]. Oh, and the constant tinkering from vendors who "improve" the software for the next release (often to justify paying the upgrade cost), causing users to re-learn how to use the tool rather than focus on improving their design skills.
[1] Which usually results in home-grown workarounds (obviously not supported by the software company) that get broken when the users are forced to upgrade to a later release.
You can't keep an infinite list of "undos" either.
AutoCAD has a fairly lengthy UNDO list and autosave is enabled by default (I think).
Crap! I just bought an Instinct.
Graphics-intensive apps are also poor ran remotely.
3D engineering applications (stuff like virtually walking through a process plant for design reviews) run very slowly to the point of being pretty much useless via remote access. First of all, the 3D model can be huge. Then, if the database has to be included, it's worse. Then, there's the issue of putting all that sensitive data online rather than on a local, in-house server.
Didn't the Watergate badguys do time?
you can wear a toga when you're sweeping your lawn with a vacuum cleaner
In my case, I forgot to wear anything at all while doing this. But I never blew Chunks.
Such a giant project has many important elements. Perhaps you didn't notice the domain that I run (coming up on 10 years next month!). Kinda explains my focus, no? Some say it's an obsession, though, but those people are weirdos.
I'd like to know the diameter of the vacuum-insulated piping that is transporting the liquid helium for cooling. Piping large volumes of that stuff is not trivial.
I miss Lucy already.
The sad fact is that the climate is changing, that we are causing it and if we want to do anything to avoid a major cataclysmic breakdown, we have to swiftly take radical action.
Explain to me again why China, Russia, India, etc. (as major polluters now and even worse in the future) are not subject to these emissions controls.
[Peasant] Oh, wait (raises hand): because...ummm...they are considered "developing economies"?
Correct! And WHY are they developing economies?
[Peasant] Uh, because...[mumble] they... weigh the same as a witch?
Correct!
[Peasant] But...if...they...pollute freely, and we have to PAY them, isn't that wrong if the goal is to reduce pollution?
[Crowd] A witch! A witch! Burn! Burn!
This has been seen on Discovery channel repeats for at least two years. Still cool though.
OK, I get it: "Earth in the Balance". Subtle, but overdone.
Do you know what a flywheel is and how huge the earth is? Do you (with the "could", "might", "can" verbiage), really think that such a massive, inertial force (influenced so greatly by Sol) will be changed by our puny, human efforts?
Actually, it eats up the money of gullible people, like lotteries.
If you have a choice between believing the world scientists or your own opinion in regards to climate change, I would suggest listening to the scientists. They know ALOT more about it than you do.
Do these "world scientists" depend upon government/NGO grants to pay their salary and are the ones that disagree (who should NOT be listened to, of course) all in the pocket of big oil?
"ALOT" is not a word, by the way.
I predict that, if Barack Obama is elected president, MSM reports of dangerous ice falling from the Arctic will decrease.
Then we will all be safe.
No worries, I'm paranoid so I already assume everyone else is out to get me anyway.
In case you already invited friends over to my place tomorrow night, you'd better bring the beer, hookers and blackjack 'cause I'm all out of that stuff at the moment.
Oh, no, I'm outed!
Cheers,
Paul
PS Actually, all that info is correct. I'd hate to have to change the phone number though.
Similar weasel words are, "All politics suck, and both are the scum of the earth, but the best of the worst is Obama (I hate him, but...)". See the subtle inference there?
Anyone that has a former Monty Python member as a running mate should be a shoo-in for nerds like us.
Ah-ha! Wealthy penthouse-dwellers! Um, your Dad's luxury vehicle will unexpectedly shut down unless...no wait. The elevator will...nah, that won't work. Whatever, just send me money or something bad will happen to you (or somebody else you know) sometime in the future. I bet you're scared now, eh?
It appears that I may be full of shit, my apologies. I asked Dan:
There've been trial projects using superconducting cables to shift large amounts of power for some years now (I mentioned them in passing in http://www.dansdata.com/gz026.htm ), but I don't think there are any large-scale applications yet. If the cable loses its cool the results are, of course, very bad.
But if you want to connect a brand new zillion-megawatt nuke plant to a city not that far away over geologically stable ground, I think buried superconductors could easily work out cheaper than umpteen giant pylons holding up a vast tonnage of aluminium cables.